With solid expertise built over more than three decades of practice and spanning six states, Stephanie's background includes being a seasoned clinician, consultant, educator (including full-time professor), presenter, author, researcher, program coordinator, consumer scientist (including recipe developer), advocate, counselor, coach, and mentor.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to offer a blog that encourages you to expand your sensory enjoyment of tasty food, rich in vital nutrients, to help you maximize your health and enjoy a flavorful life.
See it, Smell it, Taste it!

Welcome

Welcome to Sensory Nutrition! Please come in and join Stephanie and the rest of the staff here.

The doors at Sensory Nutrition are usually open 24/7, so come in and visit with us when YOUR schedule allows. We would love to share some of our secrets for nutritious and delicious meals you can make as part of your busy 21st century lifestyle.

Whether cooking for one or for many, our motto is: Get more out of life and enjoy life more.

As part of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s signature “Let’s Move” initiative to end childhood obesity in America, on Tuesday, July 9, 2013 the second annual White House “Kids’ State Dinner” as a formal luncheon was scheduled to celebrate the winners of the 2013 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge.

(2017 UPDATE NOTICE: Unfortunately, the Let’s Move website is no longer active since Michelle Obama is no longer the current First Lady.

You may find that previous availability of recipes and information from the Let’s Move program may have been scrubbed from other government related websites as well.)

Selected healthy focus recipes were featured at the luncheon. (Image of Kids’ State Dinner graphic property of Let’s Move and shown for identification purposes only).

Since it is springtime, we thought it would be a good time to share some infotainment relative to various sensory elements that can set the tone for mealtimes.

Those sensory elements can include, but are not limited to, ones which are visual in nature, or are from sound, are aromatic, pertain to taste, or are textural, all of which can influence the tone at mealtimes.

Sensory elements may interplay in multiple ways in terms of mealtime atmosphere as well, but that’s a topic for another time.

These principles can be especially beneficial to keep in mind if you have any family members or friends who are particularly sensitive to light, sound, smell, taste, or texture or otherwise cope with life issues such as those involved with hyperactivity or autism spectrum disorder.

You can apply what is known about sensory elements when setting the stage for any dining scenario as these principles can apply when preparing mealtimes for your own family unit or when you are involved in setting the stage for any get dining together(s) with others.

With the 2012 Summer Olympics in London on everyone’s minds this July, we’re continuing our series on the importance of hydration.

In Part 1 of 2 of this series on hydration, we noted via infotainment some considerations as to when it might be most appropriate to use just cool (not cold) water to rehydrate and when something more might be needed.

(Symbol of the five Olympic Rings which is in the Public Domain in the United States shown for identification purposes only courtesy of Wikipedia Commons).

We’ll get into a bit more of the subject of hydration in this infotainment blog post, including how to possibly estimate fluid losses during exercise; and potential hydration issues to be aware of before, during, and after sports or artistic performance activities.

Every 4 years it’s time for another Summer Olympics and the world turns its eyes toward the value of sports in our collective lives.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a world class athlete, a “weekend warrior” or the parent of a young person active in sports, you still need to be aware of some critical aspects of nutrition that can affect sports performance and overall health.

Olympic athletes know that adequate hydration along with other factors of optimal nutrition for sports performance can mean the difference between standing on the medal stand or just watching the ceremonies from the sidelines.

For the rest of us who may be “weekend warriors” or supportive parents or family members of youngsters learning life lessons from sports involvement, paying close attention to adequate hydration may mean one does the best one can for that performance. There is nothing like experiencing a “personal best” in any sport or artistic performance category no matter what level of athlete someone is. Family experience in dance, ultra-running, and equestrian pursuits has taught us that.

With the world focusing on the upcoming 2012 London Olympic Games, we’d like to offer some infotainment regarding hydration while staying active during summer heat in the Northern Hemisphere.

(Symbol of the five Olympic Rings which is in the Public Domain in the United States shown for identification purposes only courtesy of Wikipedia Commons).

The following content will mention some general hydration principles for infotainment purposes only.

For athlete specific, personalized advice, always work one-on-one with a competent Registered Dietitian or Exercise Physiologist who has a background in exercise science, sports, and nutrition when it comes to planning for any unique individual’s athletic nutritional needs prior to, during, and post exercise.

SCAN can help any athlete locate a Sports Dietitian in your area in the USA available to work specifically with any athlete’s needs. SCAN stands for the Sports, Cardiovascular and Wellness Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group (DPG) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics which one of us happens to belong to.

Today in this Part 1 of 2 blog post in this series, we’ll focus on the basics of hydration, the main differences between sports drinks and energy drinks, and include some considerations specifically for children. In future blog posts, we will finish up hydration and then go into the food side of fueling up.